Windows Vista Check Disk can be used to diagnose and repair hard disk and file system problems. These kinds of problems may arise after continuous use of the hard disk or when the operating system is not properly shut down like in the case of a power failure etc. To use Check Disk in Windows Vista follow these steps :
Caution : Check Disk may dismount a partition while checking for disk errors, this would result in closing all the handles to that partition. So before you proceed, save all the open documents and suspend file copying tasks for later.
- Open Computer folder by clicking on the Computer shortcut in the Start Menu side panel.
- Select a partition you want to scan for errors. For example, select C:
- Right click on the selected partition and select Properties. A properties dialog would pop up.
- In the Properties dialog, select the Tools tab and click on Check Now button.
- In the next window, select Automatically fix file system errors and click Start to start the Check Disk.
- If the partition you selected is in use and it is not the system partition (on which Windows Vista is installed), then you would see a prompt to dismount the partition as shown. Click on Force a Dismount button to proceed. Check Disk would immediately start the scanning.
- If the partition you selected is the system partition (on which Windows Vista is installed), then you would see a prompt to schedule the scan on next start. Click on Schedule disk check button to proceed. When next time you start your computer, check disk would scan your selected partition (system partition) for file system errors.
After Check Disk is done the checking and repairing the errors it found on your file system, it would show you a report of what errors it found and how it repaired them.